BY NIZBERT MOYO
A Gukurahundi survivor Hlanganiso Sithole (76) from Sikhale line in Matabeleland North’s Tsholotsho district still bears the scars of the torture he endured at the hands of the Fifth Brigade.
Sithole said his three brothers were shot dead in June 1984 while he managed to escape from the firing squad.
“There were four of us where we were seated at one of the family homestead,” he narrated the events of the day
“Soldiers approached us and accused us of being dissidents. During that process one of my brothers, Oscar, had gone to the toilet while they were interrogating us and by the time he came back they attacked accusing him of being a dissident…
“While we were still shocked, they started firing. My three brothers were killed instantly.
“I survived through the grace of the Lord because I could not believe it was me but God’s hand, at play.”
He is one of the many survivors of the 1980’s Gukurahundi massacres demanding answers for the torture they endured at the hands of the Fifth Brigade.
In July this year, President Emmerson Mnangagwa officially launched the Gukurahundi outreach programme in Bulawayo where he said the program would be led by the chiefs.
The programme has failed to take off amid indications that a budget for the exercise has not been released.
Some of the victims told Southern Eye on Sunday that they want an apology and compensation before they can die due to old age.
A visit to Tsholotsho on Wednesday by Southern Eye on Sunday revealed that the majority of villagers are still traumatised by the torture, rape and killings.
“These people were killing anyone whom they come across with, even the police were telling us that they are afraid of them because they could be killed as well,” Sithole claimed.
“I am an innocent man, I need compensation.”
An elderly woman said she has not overcome the trauma of rape at the hands of the Fifth Brigade.
“I still recall that it was on a Monday, “ the woman who cannot be identified by name for ethical reasons said.
“They tortured my husband and left him for dead.
“They found me putting on a maternity dress which I was given by my youngster who had given birth.
“One of the soldiers was stopped by his colleagues after he tried to spear my stomach with his bayonet accusing me of bearing a dissident in my stomach.”
He husband succumbed to the torture injuries, she said.
“One of the soldiers raped me and continued coming to me every day at night,” she said.
No definitive death toll has been established but the late Robert Mugabe’s Fifth Brigade, trained by North Korean instructors, is estimated to have killed up to 20,000 people between 1983 and 1987.
Mnangagwa is accused of being the architect of the killings as he was State Security minister at the time.
SOURCE: SOUTHERN EYE
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